The Anglo-Saxon Period

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The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066
Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)
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Celtic Invasion

• Between 800 and 600 BC, two groups of Celts moved
  into the British isles
• The Britons settled in Britain.
• The Gaels settled in Ireland.
• Julius Caesar described the Celts as
• Light-skinned, fair-haired, and blue eyed
• Shepherds, farmers, fierce fighters
• Artistic, imaginative, loved beauty
• Skilled with tin and iron

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The Celts

• Farmers and hunters
• Organized into tightly knit clans
• Skilled artisans
• Introduced the use of iron to Europe
• Highly developed religion, mythology, and legal
  system that specified individual rights

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The Celts (cont)

• Disputes were settled by a class of priests known
  as Druids
• Druids presided over religious rituals
  (sacrifices and prayers)
• Druids also memorized and recited long, heroic
  poems to preserve the peoples history
• Celtic legends are full of strong women, like
  Queen Maeve of Connacht in Ireland.

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Celtic Religion

• Animism
• From the Latin word for spirit
• Saw spirit everywhere in rivers, trees, stones,
  ponds, fire, and thunder
• Spirits or gods controlled all aspects of
  existence and had to be constantly satisfied.
• Druids acted as intermediaries between the gods
  and people.

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The Roman Conquest

• In 55 BC and 56 BC, Julius Caesar made hasty
  invasions.
• True conquest, however, occurred 100 years later
  under the Roman emperor Claudius in 43 AD.
• Roman rule of Britain lasted for nearly 400
  years, ending only when Rome was threatened in
  Italy.
• The last Roman legions left for Rome in 407 AD.

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Roman Rule

• Constructed a system of well-paved roads and
  founded cities
• Erected Hadrians Wall to protect from Picts and
  Scots
• Brought skills in the art of warfare
• Introduced Roman law and order
• Used Latin
• Introduced Christianity (597 AD)
• Failed to teach the Britons much about
  self-defense

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Roman Rule (cont)

• Roman Roads
• 5,000 miles of stone roads
• Linked tribal capitals and towns, especially
  London, York, Winchester
• Facilitated trade, the collection of taxes, and
  the movement of troops
• Hadrians Wall
• Linked the North Sea and the Atlantic
• Held back the Picts and Scots for 250 years

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Early Anglo-Saxon Life

• The next invaders of Britain were the
  Anglo-Saxons the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
• The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came from Denmark,
  Holland, Germany, and Scandinavia.
• The Celts resisted the invaders for a number of
  years under the leadership of a great king,
  possibly the inspiration for the legendary King
  Arthur.

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Dispersal of the Britons

• To flee the Anglo-Saxons, the Britons fled to
  other parts of the island
• Cornwall
• Wales
• Some join the Gaels in Ireland and formed a
  splinter groups known as the Scots (This group
  later settled in what is now Scotland).
• In all areas, the people spoke the Celtic
  languages (Cornish, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish
  Gaelic). All but Cornish are still spoken today.

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Anglo-Saxon Society

• highly organized tribal units (kingdoms)
• Each tribe ruled by a king chosen by a council of
  elders (witan)
• Thanes the upper class, earls, or free warriors
• Thralls slaves who did the farming and domestic
  work
• Freemen small group who earned possessions and
  special favors

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Anglo-Saxon Society (cont)

• The Anglo-Saxons farmed, maintained local
  governments, and created fine crafts, especially
  metalwork.
• Eventually, the small kingdoms developed into
  seven large ones Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex,
  Sussex, Essex, East Anglia, and Kent.
• This development produced a new language Old
  English.
• Lived close to their animals (to protect animals
  and provide warmth)
• Lived in single-family homes surrounding a
  communal hall and protected by a wooden stockade
  fence

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Characteristics of the Anglo-Saxons

• Hard fighters and bold sea warriors
• Admired physical strength, bravery, loyalty,
  fairness, and honesty
• Great love of personal freedom
• Boastful, reckless, cruel, and bloodthirsty
• Enjoyed conflict, swimming matches, horse races,
  banqueting, drinking mead, singing songs, and
  storytelling
• Also flyting, a conflict of wits between two
  warriors where each praises his own deeds and
  belittles the others

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Role of Women

• The wife of an earl or thane supervised weaving
  and dyeing of clothes, the slaughter of
  livestock, the making of bread, beekeeping, and
  the brewing of mead (fermented honey).
• Women inherited and held property.
• Married women retained control over their
  property.
• With the coming of Christianity, many women
  entered religious communities, and some became
  powerful abbesses.

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The Scops

• The communal hall offered shelter and a place for
  council meetings.
• The communal hall was also a place for
  storytellers or bards (scops) who shared (orally)
  the stories of the Anglo-Saxons and their gods
  and heroes.
• The Anglo-Saxons valued storytelling as equal to
  fighting, hunting, and farming.
• A line of Anglo-Saxon or Old English poetry is
  characterized by four main stresses and is
  divided in half by a pause (caesura).

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Types of Anglo-Saxon Verse

• Heroic Poetry recounts the achievements of
  warriors involved in great battles
• Elegiac Poetry sorrowful laments that mourn the
  deaths of loved ones and the loss of the past
• Anglo-Saxon poets Caedmon, Cynewulf

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The Beowulf Legend

• Beowulf is an epic, a long, heroic poem, about a
  great pagan warrior renowned for his courage,
  strength, and dignity.
• Beowulf is the national epic of England, because
  it is was the first such work composed in the
  English language.
• The poem includes references to Christian ideas
  and Latin classics but also present are the
  values of a warrior society, dignity, bravery,
  and prowess in battle.

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Anglo-Saxon Beliefs

• Pagan, polytheistic
• Very pessimistic view of life (due to the
  ever-present dangers of death by accident or
  warfare)
• Human life in the hands of fate (wyrd)
• Did not believe in an afterlife
• Immortality only earned through heroic actions
• Sharp contrast to the Christian belief in an
  individuals free will

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Anglo-Saxon Beliefs (cont)

• The early Anglo-Saxons worshipped ancient
  Germanic or Norse gods
• Odin/Woden chief of the gods, god of death,
  poetry, and magic
• Fria Wodens wife and goddess of the home
• Tiu the god of war and the sky
• Thunor/Thor god of thunder and lightening
• Frijz/Frigga queen of the heavens
• The names of these gods survive today in our
  words Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
• The dragon personification of evil and death and
  the protector of treasure (the grave mound) also
  associated with the Vikings

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The Coming of Christianity

• In 432, the whole of Celtic Ireland was converted
  by Patrick, a Romanized Briton.
• In 563, a group of Irish monks led by a soldier
  and abbot named Columba established a monastery
  on the island of Iona off the West coast of
  Scotland.
• Later, the Roman church began to send
  missionaries throughout Europe.
• In 597, Saint Augustine converted the King of
  England and establish a monastery at Canterbury.
• By 650, most of England was Christian in name, if
  not in fact.

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Christianity and Literature

• The church brought education and written
  literature to England.
• Monks established churches, monasteries, and
  libraries.
• Monks recorded and duplicated illuminated
  manuscripts, at first only written in Latin.
• Oral literature was transcribed into written
  form.
• Monks preserved not only Latin and Greek classics
  but also popular literature (Beowulf).

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The Venerable Bede (673-735)

• A monk
• Considered the father of English history
• Wrote A History of the English Church and People
  the clearest account we have of Anglo-Saxon times

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Anglo-Saxon Manuscript
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The Danish Invasion

• Due to rising population and limited farmland,
  many Scandinavians (the Norse and the Danes) took
  to the seasthe Vikings.
• In 800, Danish raiders attacked Britain.
• The Norse settled in Northumbria, Scotland,
  Wales, and Ireland.
• The Danes targeted eastern and southern England.

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Restored Viking Vessels
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Viking Raids From the Fury of the Northmen, O
Lord, Deliver Us

• Sacked and plundered monasteries
• Stole sacred religious objects
• Burned entire communities
• Murdered villagers
• Halted the growth of learning
• By the middle of the ninth century, most of
  England had fallen. The Vikings called their
  territory Danelaw.

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Alfred the Great

• Only the Saxon kingdom of Wessex managed to
  fight the Danes to a standstill.
• In 871, Alfred ascended to the Wessex throne.
• Alfred resisted further Danish encroachment.
• A 886 truce formally divided England the Danish
  ruled the east and north the Saxons ruled the
  south.
• Alfred translated the Bedes History and other
  works from Latin into English to make them more
  accessible, as well as instituted the Anglo-Saxon
  Chronicle, a history of England from the earliest
  days through 1154.

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King Alfred the Great
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Danish Contributions

• Built their Danelaw communities as military
  fortresses and trading centers
• Generated growth of English towns
• Expanded English vocabulary as Norse words crept
  into the language
• For example, law is Danish, and its use reflects
  the Danes interest in legal procedures.

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The Norman Conquest

• Toward the end of the tenth century, the Danes
  increased attempts to recapture and widen Danelaw
  and eventually forced the witan to select a
  series of Danish kings.
• In 1042, the throne returned to a descendant of
  Alfred, King Edward the Confessor, a Christian.
• Edwards association with the Normans weakened
  Saxon power.
• Upon his death in 1066, Edward was succeeded by
  Harold.
• William of Normandy challenged Harolds right to
  the throne and defeated Harold in the Battle of
  Hastings.
• William was crowned King on December 25, 1066.